The CDS for last year does give a specific count for EA applications that isn’t on prior year CDS filings. The RD numbers are my calculation of “if they it wasn’t ED and wasn’t EA it must have been RD” but I don’t know if that’s the right way to do it or not. If someone applied EA and shifts to ED2, which pool are they captured in for reporting? If someone gets deferred ED/EA to RD, which pool?
In any case directionally it would appear the EA/RD pools are pretty similar at 3-4% acceptance rate and ED still the big winner at 68% acceptance rate.
Interesting! But based on these numbers shouldn’t the EA acceptance rate be listed as 2614/15541 = 16.8%. The RD acceptance rate is so low!! But then even Tulane says on their own admissions blog that they do not recommend anyone apply RD because they accept so few.
Ha! Yes, you are right - this is why they don’t have me submitting their documents for them.
I must have used Enrolled in the % calculation.
But if you total some of the numbers they don’t make a lot of sense (i.e. if you add ED/EA/RD together you get a number greater than the 1,867 total admit) so there’s clearly some way that things get handled that’s not obvious. I’m GUESSING but if I apply EA and get deferred to RD and later accepted, I’d think I’m in the EA admitted since my application was EA.
Their own communication from last year said they admitted “just under 400” in the RD round - this is pretty different from the 270 calculated above which implies ~130 of that 400 were deferrals.
So rough Acceptance numbers, 68% ED, 17% EA, 3% RD.
My daughter was rejected. We were honestly pretty surprised. Here are her stats. Valedictorian (1 of 400), 1480 SAT, 3.94 UW 4.7 W GPA, 12 APs, 20 DE, Pres/founder of club, VP of other club, JV and varsity sport, 150 hrs of community service in addition to part time job. We thought great essays (edited by Sr editor at Food and Wine in NYC)… Flat out rejection.
Oh my word! I sent your message to my daughter to make her feel better and she decided to pull up her application to look over it again, thoroughly. You were right! It appears there was a glitch on common app and her test scores were not submitted (even though the dates showed up, the scores didn’t). She is going to call the admissions office now. I can’t believe we missed that. Thanks for your message
As I noted - you never know why? Could be something in the app. - you thought the test score - but could be ANYTHING.
Could be yield protection? With stats like hers, they may have data that says they’re not a top 3 choice. Could be finances - they are need aware I believe.
You’ll never know why - and there’s no reason to fret over it.
If your daughter did everything she could and it seems like she did and then some- then it’s their loss, not hers.
She’ll find a fantastic school for her. And frankly, the name Tulane or a zillion other schools means little. What she does with the opportunities her school affords her…means a lot. I’ve seen it first hand with both kids who on their own, chose safeties.
Thank you! I will pass this along to encourage her It’s true that it isn’t a top choice for her, so it does make sense. She was still super bummed (her only rejection so far). This process has been eye opening for sure :). Thanks, again!
My son at WUSTL (WL and didn’t come off) and my daughter Rice, UNC, Emory (WL but didn’t come off) and W&M (waitlist, didn’t stay on).
Otherwise, they’d always wonder why they didn’t reach higher.
My daughter is at the 16th of 17th admittances rank wise - and just interned at arguably the top think tank in the country.
My son turned down a semi elite engineering program for a no name one - and he now works with the same kids he would have gone to school with at the same pay.
It’s about her…not the school.
And Tulane was right to reject her if in fact, they are looking to pop yield.
It’s a business - and they want to be seen as desired vs. someone using them for self gratification, etc.
She’ll be rejected a lot in life - it’s just how it is. So it’s a good lesson (in handling the rejection, which is rarely fun I know).
Tulane wants kids who want them. This is probably the most important thing they look for. If it wasn’t a top choice for her, they could probably tell via the optional essay and perhaps a lack of true demonstrated interest.
Rejections (of admission and/or merit) can really help narrow the landscape of choices. Getting some big scholarship to a school that isn’t a top choice makes for some tough decisions.
The process is convoluted and crazy but in most cases works out.
The piece you don’t notate on here is demonstrated interest. Tulane is a HEAVY demonstrated interest school. Did your daughter do tour(s), engage with AO and how were the supplemental “Why Tulane” essays?
S23 is there now. His stats weren’t anywhere close to your daughters. He was EA/Deferred/Accepted. I was pretty shocked at the time of the acceptance but think it was largely due to his engagement with them and very strong “why Tulane” essays.
We are still learning a lot in this process. Things that will hopefully be helpful for the schools she is most interested in. Learning more about demonstrated interest is hugely beneficial.
There was hardly any demonstrated interest from her for Tulane, so this makes sense. She was genuinely interested in it, but had not gone through the main channels to do tours, etc.
Happy for your son and I hope he is thriving there How fantastic for him.
Our child rejected from EA coming from top NE boarding school.
Test optional
3.8 unweighted GPA (most boarding schools don’t weight) taking multiple honors courses (school moved away from APs)
Lots of leadership at school
Lots of community service at school and home
2 sport varsity athlete for 3 years
We know of numerous kids from top boarding schools also rejected. Wonder if they assume they’re the back up? They really weren’t in most cases just not a definite choice for ED.
Same question about demonstrated interest at the school?
Tulane certainly isn’t the only school that focuses on yield but on the spectrum it’s among those that care about it a LOT. They would rather accept a 3.6 GPA student that they believe is a sure thing versus accepting 10 students at 3.9 GPA hoping they get one.
As parents we can debate the merits of a school’s admissions strategy but like @tsbna44 said above, it’s a business for them and we’re the consumers. The challenging part - and why CC can be so valuable - is that the colleges have much more experience playing the “game” than the applicants do!
Flat out rejection.